Low-achieving Congress returns with $8 bn Harvey bill to pass

Waiting for relief: Congress is slated to vote on $8 billion in intiial emergency relief for the victims of superstorm Harvey, which brought unprecedented flooding to huge swathes of southeast Texas.

Signing off on $8 billion in emergency relief aid for victims of superstorm Harvey is the top item on a slate of critical but contentious legislation as the US Congress returns from summer break this week.

The unexpected bill from the storm, which flooded swathes of Texas last week leaving tens of thousands homeless, should be one of the few things that can unite a legislature that has achieved woefully little so far this year.

Having failed to pass a top-priority healthcare reform or begin on tax reform since President Donald Trump took office in January, the Republican majority faces an end-September deadline for raising the country's debt ceiling and passing a spending bill for the fiscal year beginning October 1.

Both should be easy in a Congress controlled by the president's party, but the Republicans are torn from within between moderate and conservative factions, and constantly at odds with the opposition Democrats.

That could lead to a bare-knuckled battle with the economy in the balance. If the borrowing ceiling is not increased, the US could default on its debt. And if the budget isn't passed, government could shut down.

As the fall session officially opens Tuesday afternoon, the need to support hundreds of thousands on the Texas and Louisiana coastal plain could create the conditions for an exceptional show of harmony on Capitol Hill.

- Spending battle -

With an urgent need to get the money moving, legislators say they are determined to avoid a political standoff that could paralyze recovery operations.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on $7.4 billion to bulk up the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has led the Harvey relief effort, and another $450 million in disaster loans to support small businesses getting back on their feet. A Senate vote will follow.

But that is only a down payment on the total cost of the disaster, which could surpass $150 billion, according to experts.

In moving quickly, the Republicans want to avoid the drama of 2012, when their politicking stalled relief funds by three months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the northeast coast.

Army National Guardsmen and ranchers in Hamshire, Texas load bales of hay onto a CH-74 Chinook helicopter to be dropped to cattle stranded in flooded areas after Hurricane Harvey.

The initial relief will give the Republicans time to determine just how much is needed over the long term.

"I don't think we want to make the same mistake they made with Sandy, which was to ask for way more money than you knew yet what you needed," Senator Roy Blunt told NBC television on Sunday, referring to the $60 billion allocated at the time.

The $1.1 trillion in budget funds the legislature has to pass could be much more of a fight.

Tied to that is funding the government deficit: if Congress does not raise the borrowing ceiling, the country cannot meet its budget commitments.

But fiscally conservative Republicans, adamant about forcing a cutback in government spending, could threaten to stall the debt ceiling and spending bills to exact spending concessions.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned Congress in July that he only has enough money to meet all commitments through September 29.

"Without raising the debt limit, I'm not comfortable that we will get the money that we need this month for Texas to rebuild," Mnuchin told Fox News on Sunday.

- Poor relations with Trump -

Such divisions could spell more of the political logjam that has made Congress appear hopeless to many Americans.

That in turn could challenge Trump, whose main goal for the fall is a promised tax reform bill.

The president has repeatedly blamed Congress for failure to push through major legislation. In turn, they have faulted him for poor leadership.

Baring the poor state of relations, veteran Republican Senator John McCain, writing in the Washington Post Friday, urged compromise to get things done under "a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct."

Republican leaders have a chance to smooth things over late Tuesday: Trump has invited them to the White House to mark the new legislative season.

And Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader whose differences with Trump have been on painful display, insisted they were working in concert.

"These are the president's immediate priorities: Pass disaster relief. Prevent a default. Fund the government. They are my immediate priorities as well."